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duraniedrama (![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} duraniedrama) wrote in ![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/community.gif){kind=small} fandom_wank,@ 2010-02-01 13:27:00 |
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| Entry tags: | person: john scalzi, publishing |
Amazon Does Something Stupid Over The Weekend Again
So, one fine Friday, Amazon abruptly delists all titles by Macmillan. John Scalzi, who has books with Macmillan via Tor Books, notices and is initially puzzled and then increasingly annoyed as the reason for this gradually becomes clear. Amazon has apparently pulled this stunt because Macmillan is demanding that its ebooks be sold at prices of its choosing instead of being forcibly discounted to $9.99 so Amazon can sell more Kindles.
John Sargent of Macmillan runs a paid ad in the Saturday edition of Publisher's Lunch explaining their position.
I told them they could stay with their old terms of sale, but that this would involve extensive and deep windowing of titles.
(I think this is publisher-speak for "sure, you can sell them for $9.99, but we won't be releasing them to you in ebook format until WAY after the initial publication date. You give us paperback prices, you'll get 'em about when the paperback comes out.")
Amazon's repsonse was to delist the Macmillan titles (without actually telling anybody why, mind you, except as an anonymous tip to The New York Times.)
The Twittersphere and blogosphere respond as one would expect. Charles Stross is particularly pissed off. Making Light also has a post about it and there's a thread about it on Absolute Write with some hilarious mansplaining as a guy who knows the vague basics about ebooks doesn't understand why they cost so darn much and gets into it with a woman who has been in the industry for years and knows exactly why they do.
Amazon finally backs down in a public statement on, um, their own message board by the "Amazon Kindle team."
We want you to know that ultimately, however, we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan's terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles, and we will want to offer them to you even at prices we believe are needlessly high for e-books.
Scalzi sums up the mess in his own snarky style.
Which means he'll probably be the last to get relisted.
There's loads out there, really, but these are the most entertaining highlights, I think.
